


testing boundaries

by discoveriesofbishmont (AlexiaBlackbriar13)



Category: A Discovery of Witches (TV)
Genre: (she just wants to lie in bed snuggling with her vampire dammit), 1x07 related, Bishop House, Defensive Magic, Established Relationship, F/M, Irritated and tired Diana, Missing Scene, Self-Defense Training, Spoilers for ADOW up to episode 7, Surly growly vampire puppy Matthew, Witchwind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 12:42:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16640330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiaBlackbriar13/pseuds/discoveriesofbishmont
Summary: Finally understanding how Diana's spellbound magic works, Matthew is convinced she needs to learn how to utilise it to defend herself. A self-defence lesson consisting of a vampire antagonising, annoying and scaring her to no end until she lashes back out at him is not how Diana pictured spending the morning.missing scene set at the bishop house the morning after the woodland chase/bedroom scene, but before marcus and miriam’s arrival; based on the show's events, not the books





	testing boundaries

**Author's Note:**

> a ‘missing scene’ set at the bishop house the morning after the woodland chase/bedroom scene, but before marcus and miriam’s arrival. i based this off the show’s events rather than the books so those who haven’t read the All Souls Trilogy can still read.
> 
> spoilers up to 1x07 of ADOW.
> 
> follow me on tumblr @discoveriesofbishmont ! hope you enjoy x

“You’re still thinking rather than feeling. Tap into your instincts, Diana. Just let your magic sense me.”

Diana huffed unhappily, twisting in place as she searched the surrounding forest for any sign of the vampire who was stalking her. After their training session last night and the resulting passionate events, she’d been hoping to spend the morning relaxing in bed with Matthew, rather than waking up at dawn for yet another frustrating self-defense lesson. She understood why Matthew was so concerned about her safety and control over her magic - Knox, Satu and the Congregation were after them, and Baldwin wouldn’t be able to stall them for much longer - but she much rather be cuddled up with Matthew under some blankets with an endless tea supply.

The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, and it was cold, a bitter wind rustling the remaining amber leaves of the wood’s trees; Diana was exhausted after all the magical training Sarah had been putting her through. At least she did appear to be improving. Her magic wasn’t as unruly as before and it seemed much more manageable. Although time-walking was definitely something she still needed to get her head around.

Diana startled with a gasp when a blur shot out behind her, tagging her on the shoulder before vanishing. Whipping around, Diana tried to catch sight of Matthew before he disappeared again, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“This isn’t working,” she sighed. “Can we please just go back to the house? We’re missing breakfast right now, and I’m tired.”

“Other vampires and witches aren’t going to care if you’re tired or not,” Matthew’s voice echoed from behind her, sounding exasperated. “No matter how you feel, you need to be able to defend yourself.”

Diana dropped her head down into her hands with a faint groan. As she did so, the vampire rushed past again, this time giving her a firm shove on the back so she stumbled forwards. Scowling, the witch wheeled around in a full circle. Once again, there was no sign of Matthew anywhere. “I can defend myself just fine.”

“You think so? That witch kidnapped you and held you for hours before Baldwin and I found you.” He wasn’t saying it to be cruel, she knew that; his tone was soft and regretful as he reminded her of what had happened at La Pierre. But it still hurt to hear it.

“That was different,” she argued, somewhat weakly. “Satu took me by surprise. Besides, I was spellbound. I couldn’t use my magic.”

“Why do you think we’re training now?” Matthew called. “You finally understand how your power works while spellbound, and you’re learning how to control it. Utilize your magic here. Defend yourself with it. You used a witchwind in Oxford to fend off Knox and the other witches… do the same now.”

Diana shook her head, knowing that he could see her. “I can’t.” She yelped as she was knocked over, her legs swept out from underneath her as Matthew dashed past again. Hitting the ground hard, she winced at the pain that spread through her body, which was still bruised badly from the battering Satu gave her. “Dammit, Matthew, stop it!”

“Don’t say that you can’t!” he growled. “And if you want me to stop, then _stop me!_ ”

“I’m not in the mood for this.” The witch heaved herself up onto her feet, staggering wildly to the side. “I’m going back to the house. If you push me over again, I’ll sic Sarah on you.”

A deep, menacing purr erupted from somewhere to the left of her. Diana shifted nervously, her eyes skimming the foliage. There was a rush of air - and then the snarl was coming from the right. Matthew was not playing games anymore. His growling was similar to last night’s, when he’d been resisting the urge to approach her when he’d accidentally caused her to cut her hand. The atmosphere had transformed into a more dangerous one. Matthew was an apex predator, and Diana knew she was his prey. Backing up against one of the trees, she attempted to spot him again, to no avail.

“You aren’t going anywhere,” he told her, with a threatening rumble.

“Matthew, you’re scaring me.”

“No, I’m not,” he countered, still out of sight. “I can smell your adrenalin, remember? You’re not scared. You’re just irritated.”

She swallowed, breath catching in her throat. For a moment, she thought she felt the vampire’s icy exhalation against her throat and she darted away from the tree, convinced he was hiding behind it. But Matthew wasn’t there. Matthew wasn’t anywhere. He was seriously beginning to hunt her, her magic had never felt further away from her, and she had no way to figure out where he was or how to defend herself. Diana couldn’t keep the panic at bay any longer. Beginning to tremble, she tried to tap into her instincts as Matthew had instructed, but she was too worked up to do so now.

“There,” Matthew purred, in the vague direction of behind her. “That’s better. Now you’re afraid. I told you, Diana. There are only two emotions that keep the world turning. One is desire, and the other is fear. Now you’re scared, let’s bring out your desire. Not for me, but for you to feel safe again. What did you tell me back in Oxford?”

“Magic is desire made real,” she answered, a tremor in her voice.

“Exactly. Use your magic.”

“I can’t!”

Matthew appeared from a nearby bush. His dark hair was ruffled and his eyes were almost black with how large his pupils were. Half-crouched, he emitted a resounding growl and bared his teeth. Frozen, Diana realized that this was the lethal predator Ysabeau had warned her Matthew would turn into when stalking his prey.

The cold breeze sweeping through the forest began to grow in intensity. The broken, fallen leaves littering the woodland floor formed a tight tornado around the witch’s feet, until it was encasing her like an elemental shield. The force of the wind kept rising, and the whirlwind transformed into a dense shield of air that wrapped around Diana as protectively as Matthew’s arms had last night. The vampire stood on the other side of the wall of wind, his gleaming, dark eyes fixed on hers. It looked as if he was about to throw himself through the tornado and tackle her down, so Diana opened her mouth to warn him to keep back. Nothing came out but choking, frigid air.

Matthew took a singular step towards her - and the whirlwind exploded outwards. The expression of shock and pride on the vampire’s face was the last thing Diana saw before he was being catapulted backward, hurled into a tree. The trunk cracked and crumbled at the impact, bark and splinters flying everywhere. Matthew wasn’t knocked out, but he didn’t try and stand again. He remained lying on his front on the leaf litter, hands raised in surrender.

 _It’s all right_ , he was mouthing to her clearly, his voice inaudible over the wind. _It’s all right._

Diana nodded, repeating that to herself over and over. Matthew was fine, she was okay; he wasn’t hunting her anymore and it looked as if their self-defense lesson was over. The wind started to die down. The cyclone surrounding the witch became intense wind, and then a breeze, before it very gradually dissipated entirely. Utterly drained of energy and trembling all over, Diana dropped to her hands and knees, panting.

She barely noticed Matthew warily coming up to her and kneeling too. He was much calmer and tenderly drew her into a hug. Diana clung onto his body like a lifeline, burying her head in his shoulder, closing her eyes when her cheek hit the soft Cashmere of his sweater.

“Now that,” he said gently, “is what I’m talking about when I say use your magic to defend yourself.”

“You wanted me to release a witchwind on you?” Diana croaked in disbelief.

“Well, no,” he laughed. “I wasn’t expecting a witchwind, to be honest. I would have just been happy if you’d pushed me away. But at least you used your power somehow. Now we just need to focus on you using your magic to actually sense other creature presences before they can attack you.”

She clutched onto his arms with another groan. “Please, not right now.”

“No, not right now. Right now, we’re going back to the house and getting some tea and food into you, so you can rest.”

“I don’t know if I can walk,” Diana said, embarrassed.

Matthew didn’t even hesitate to sweep her up into his arms bridal-style, dropping a kiss on her forehead and tucking her head under his chin. “Luckily you don’t have too, _mon coeur_.”

It took at least half an hour to get back to the Bishop house as the vampire insisted on walking at a normal speed, apparently sensing some nausea in Diana. The sun had risen and was casting warm rays down from the unusually cloudless sky when they finally returned, Matthew dropping the witch back down to the feet once they reached the porch. He kept a hand on her elbow to steady her as they headed inside, immediately seeing Sarah and Em bustling within the kitchen. Both of the witches turned to look at them as they entered. Sarah was sitting on the counter and sipping at a mug of coffee while Em watched over some eggs and bacon sizzling and popping within a pan.

“Where have you two been?” Em asked curiously, drawing a chair out for Diana so she could easily collapse down into it. She glanced up gratefully when Em placed a cup of tea down in front of her.

“Out in the forest,” Matthew replied vaguely. He took a seat next to Diana and entwined their fingers together on the tabletop, smiling when she squeezed his hand lightly.

Sarah snorted. “Would have thought you’d still be in bed together considering what you were doing last night.”

Diana looked up with a frantic, bewildered expression. “What?”

“Honey, you and Matthew left a trail of clothes from the door all the way up to your bedroom for Sarah and me to find this morning,” Em chuckled. “It was very obvious what you got up to. Plus… it’s an old house. It may be haunted and magical, but the walls aren’t soundproofed.”

Immediately, her cheeks reddened. Matthew just shook out a newspaper and tried to hide his amused and smug smile behind it. She smacked him in the arm but it only made his smirk grow. Diana didn’t want to think about what exactly her aunts had overheard her and the vampire doing.

“We thought you’d be doing the same thing this morning,” Sarah said dryly.

“Matthew decided we should have another self-defense lesson instead,” she muttered.

“How did it go?” Em questioned.

“Diana tossed me into a tree with witchwind, so it went well, I suppose,” Matthew said, his voice matter-of-fact.

Sarah burst out cackling, looking so entertained by that image that Diana had to shoot her a glare to knock it off. But the vampire just raised an eyebrow and engrossed himself in reading a particular newspaper article. Em dished out a full plate of eggs and bacon for her niece along with a rack of toast, and Diana tucked into the food, ravenous as she wolfed it down. Matthew pushed the butter across the table with his index finger before she could begin searching for it, and she rewarded him with a kiss on the cheek for his efforts, which he grinned about.

“So when are Marcus and Miriam arriving?” Em asked, as she took her own seat opposite to Matthew.

“Their plane landed an hour ago and they managed to collect their rental car without any problems, so they’ll be here soon,” he informed her. “Thank you for offering to let them stay here as well. It can’t be easy for you to open up your home to vampires.”

“It’s not,” Sarah said bluntly. “I have half a mind to make you all stay outside in the barn, but the house doesn’t like that idea.”

As if in response, the doors of the house slammed back against the walls, sawdust raining down from the ceiling as the windows shook in their fixings.

“If you made them stay in the barn, I would have gone with them,” Diana said.

Sarah cast a glance over to her wife. “Then I would have had to face Em’s wrath, and she’s much scarier than three vampires when she’s angry.” She pushed down from the counter. “I need to go and prepare a couple of spells I want you to try out today, Diana. Vampires might be coming, but that doesn’t mean you get to slack off on your magical training. Matthew, you might want to leave. One of the spells involves garlic.”

“She does know that vampires aren’t affected by garlic, doesn’t she?” Matthew asked in confusion, after the older Bishop witch had left the room.

“Believe it or not, I think that was Sarah’s attempt at a joke,” Diana said.

Matthew looked unimpressed. He resembled a surly puppy and she couldn’t help but smile at him. “Somehow I doubt that.” Rising from his chair, he said, “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go and call Ysabeau. I promised her and Marthe daily updates on what’s going on with Diana and I while we’re here. I’ll see you later, _ma lionne_.”

He bent down and gently lifted the witch’s chin to press a sweet, tender kiss to her lips. Diana wished it lasted longer as he pulled away, trailing his hand up her back and over her shoulders as he departed.

“Did you really throw him into a tree with witchwind?” Em questioned.

Polishing off her last piece of toast, Diana shrugged. “He growled at me. He was asking for it.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! hope you enjoyed x
> 
> tumblr: @discoveriesofbishmont


End file.
